One Little Kitten
by Caramel Cheescake
Summary: Will accidentally stumbles upon a weakness of Halt's. And being Will, he doesn't recognize it without a little help. I might change the title later, as I'm not that pleased with it.


A/N: Okay. This is the result of...a random idea that came out of nowhere. I'm not really sure what I think of it...can you guys please give me your opinions?

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Halt's eyes started to itch and water slightly. This wasn't as unusual as it should've been; Halt usually stayed up late to work and this sort of thing happened when he was overtired. However, it was the middle of the day...Halt shrugged and attributed the anomaly to too little sleep and too much caffeine. He took a sip of coffee and looked through the pile of reports on his table.

A few minutes later, his itchy, watering eyes got worse, and his nose started to run slightly. _This_ was definitely out of the ordinary. Halt's nose only ran when he had a cold, and when-

"Halt?"

Halt looked up at his apprentice, forgetting the rest of his thought, and resisting the urge to rub his eyes, which has gotten even itchier. "Yes Will?"

Will hesitated. "Halt..." Then his brow furrowed. "Are you okay? Your eyes are kind of red."

Halt knew that Will had only commented on his red (and now extremely itchy) eyes because he was hoping to distract Halt from whatever he was going to say next. That tactic never really worked, but it never stopped Will from trying.

"I'm fine, Will. Now, what were you going to tell me?" Halt sniffled slightly as Will fidgeted, trying to phrase whatever he's about to say in a way that will aggravate Halt that least.

"I-err...you know pets?"

_O-kay_... Halt thought. "Pets?" He repeated, a touch of incredulity in his voice. Then he sniffled again.

Will shuffled his feet. "Yes, pets. Non-working animals that people keep. Usually in their houses."

_Where on earth is he going with this? _"What about th-ah-ah-choo!"

For the life of him, Halt couldn't make any sense of the sneeze that had seemingly come out of nowhere.

"Umm, are you sure you're okay Halt?" Some of the tension left Will's shoulders, indicating his relief that he had a reason to change the subject. He took a step towards Halt, but stopped when Halt held up his hand.

"I'm fine," Halt replied curtly. "Please, continue with what you were about to tell me."

Will gulped. "How do you feel about them?"

It now took every fibre of Halt's self-control not to rub his furiously burning eyes. "Pets?" There was some memory surfacing in the back of Halt's mind, but he ignored it.

Will squirmed uncomfortably.

"Will, stop moving and tell me, clearly, what you are talking about."

Will took a deep breath. "Halt, please don't be mad, but I really really really want a pet and I found one and she was lonely and abandoned and just a baby so can I please please please keep her?"

Then he pulled a little ginger tabby kitten from behind his back.

Halt's red, itchy eyes widened. Then he sneezed five times in a row.

Will, clearly worried, took a few steps towards his mentor.

"No!" Halt snapped. Well, as much as one can snap whilst sneezing every few seconds. "Get that c-atchoo! Cat out of-ah-atchoo! The h-atchoo!"

Will, bewildered and worried about his mentor, stayed exactly where he was. He and the kitten watched Halt as his attempts at talking were ruined by uncontrollable sneezing.

Losing patience (and dignity, and self-control), Halt grabbed Will's shoulders, led him to the door, opened it, and pushed him outside.

"And as long as you have that cat, stay ou-atchoo! Out!" Halt yelled from behind the closed door.

Bewildered, Will sat on the steps petting the kitten. "That was odd. Halt's never acted like _that_ before."

As Will tried to figure out what had triggered Halt's odd behaviour, he heard Tug whinny, then hoofbeats a few seconds later. He looked up.

"Gil!"

The tall Ranger smiled down at Will from atop Blaze. Then his eyes widened.

"Why, pray tell, do you have a kitten?"

"I found her and brought her here to ask Halt if I could have her, but he started acting weird and then he kicked me out."

The corners of Gil's lips twitched. "Acting weird, you say?"

Will nodded. "His eyes got all red and he started-"

They both turn towards the door when they hear Halt's muffled sneeze.

"-sneezing."

Gil raised an eyebrow. "And you have no idea as to why this might be happening?"

Will shook his head, his wide brown eyes innocent.

Gil, smirking slightly, stepped past Will and knocked on Halt's door.

"I _tode_ you to tay-" Halt's voice, now very stuffed up, arrived at the door before he did. "Oh. Hi Gil. Atchoo! Torry." Halt sniffled.

"Problem, Halt?" Said Gil, trying very obviously to hide a smirk.

Halt narrowed his watering eyes. He sniffled, then said, "Whadever would gib you thad idea?

"Oh, I don't know. Your eyes are red and watering, you're sneezing uncontrollably,"

Halt very effectively demonstrated.

"And you just look like you're generally uncomfortable." Gil's trademark grin started to spread across his face.

"Da point Gil."

"Does this, just maybe, have anything to do with your cat allergy?"

Will gasped. "_Halt_ is allergic to _cats_?"

Halt and Gil both turned to him. "And why," Gil said. "Is that so hard to believe?"

"Because...because he's Halt! He's can't have something as insignificant as an allergy to _cats_."

Halt smiled wryly. "Will, eben legeds can ha-atchoo!-hab ibsignifica-atchoo!-ibsignificant and irritatig liddle flaws. Humans a-atchoo!-aren't infallible."

Will pouted a bit. "So I can't keep her."

"No."

Will sighed. "Hey, Gil, do you want a kitten?"

Gil shrugged. "Why not? Anyway, you're just lucky you didn't find out about Halt's allergy the way _I_ did."

Will gave them both a curious look. "Why, what happened?"

Halt and Gil looked at each other. "That's not important." They said simultaneously.

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A/N: The end is kind of rushed, and I personally think that it's crappier than the rest of the story. In any case, please review?


End file.
